As a CDFA® professional, I’m looking to find an equitable settlement option that’s best for both spouses. I find that most attorneys are trained to make the settlement split as smooth and quick as possible. But just like I didn’t go to law school and study the legal system, attorneys aren’t financial planners and often don’t consider the client’s long-term implications of their divorce settlement.
Next weekend we officially enter the fall — one of the best times of year that ushers in football, fire pits, and the beginning of the holiday season. As you watch the leaves turn brilliant red and orange and begin to blow to the ground, it’s easy to appreciate the natural beauty of the end of another life cycle before the cold winter months.
It’s much harder to appreciate nearing the end of our own life cycles. As a matter of fact, most of us probably avoid thinking about it altogether. And that’s perfectly understandable. None of us wants to consider that one day we won’t be around anymore and our loved ones will be left to pick up the pieces. Heck, I’m sorry for even bringing it up today. But it’s just the reality of the human condition.
If you’re like the majority of Americans, you might be living paycheck to paycheck. That’s according to a recent report where 61% of U.S. adults said they spend all of their income every month on bills like housing and food.
We’ve hit a perfect storm where pandemic funds have dried up, inflation has been running hot over the past year, and wages have struggled to keep pace. The result is dwindling savings and record-high credit card debt, and it can feel like you’re barely treading water.
Here in Lexington, Kentucky, we may be in the dog days of August, but it just feels a little different this year, doesn’t it? I can almost sense the coming fall air as folks around me are preparing to go back to school and talking about University of Kentucky football. The Family Financial Partners team is making its way back to the office, and clients are starting to answer our phone calls as they settle into a normal schedule.
When people get married, it sets a lot of things into motion. Many are moving in together for the first time — choosing a home, combining furniture, and splitting up household chores. It’s an exciting time, but also one that comes with the stress of shaking up old routines and learning new ones.
It’s no secret that money is one of the most common causes of marital disagreements, so figuring out how to manage your finances as a married couple is a crucial step in setting yourself up for a successful marriage.
This has been a really interesting year watching the discussion of artificial intelligence advance due to the rise of ChatGPT and similar machine-learning tools that have permeated daily life and business. In order to learn more about the subject, I recently invited Brad Watkins, a self-described “technology evangelist” to our podcast, “In My Day.” Ryan and I had a fascinating hour-long discussion with him where he broke down what AI really is and how it’s going to affect our lives moving forward. I thought that, for this month’s newsletter, you’d like to read an excerpt from that conversation.
As young investors, everybody wants to advise us on what to do with our money. Bloggers, social media personalities, and TV talking heads claim their method will get us on the path to wealth and early retirement. We see it so much that some of us start feeling guilty, like every dime that doesn’t go toward our retirement, investment portfolio, or mortgage is a dime that’s setting us back from our goal of financial freedom.
Last week was a big one in the market. We had a new bull market declared, and we saw the Federal Reserve finally pause its year-plus campaign of hiking interest rates. Let’s deal with the Fed first:
No rate hike, but are more coming?
While it did not raise rates, the Fed did raise its terminal interest rate, which is its target for where it sees interest rates going, by 50 base points, or a half percent.
I love summer because we have all these opportunities for how we can allocate our newly found free time, but I find when I talk with clients that summer can also be a stressful season. There’s always the pressure to plan that big vacation that we can forget to budget for it and end up paying for that vacation for the next six months. In my case, I’ve got three kids doing camps and getting braces and moving into dorm rooms — there isn’t much money left for the “what Dave wants to do” fund!
The weather is warming, flowers are blooming, horses are racing, people are socializing — spring is in the air! The arrival of spring also means that it’s time to tidy up our homes, declutter, and spring clean. This season of rejuvenation presents an opportunity to extend our cleaning efforts beyond our home and into a different space: our finances. Just as we spring clean our homes, undergoing a spring financial checkup can bring a renewed sense of financial well-being.
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